Memory Strategy

7 Places to Get Free Printable Brain Teasers

admin — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 16:40:02 +0000

One of the most important steps to improving your memory is to exercise your brain. Since you can’t take your brain to the gym and have it do some cardio or bench press reps, your going to have to increase its strength in other ways. A good way to do so is to consistently work on brain teasers.

Brain teasers can include any kind of riddle, puzzle or difficult questions that will cause you to actually think. The good thing is, you can find places online to do this for free!

I’ve made this list for people that don’t want to sit and stair at the computer everyday just to increase their brain power. You’ll find a list of free brain teasers, with answers for brain teasers to go with them. All of these are printable brain teasers so you can take them with you and work out your brain whenver you please.

1. teAchnology – This is a great brain teaser resource. It’s made for teachers, but anyone can use the printable work sheets.

2. Smart Kit, Puzzle Playground – This is a great blog with lots of great posts that provide printable brain teasers.

3. Free Math Work Sheets – Another great resource for printable brain teasers.

4. Free Puzzles – Lots of different puzzles for you to download and print.

5. University of Washington – This site has lots of options for printing out complex brain teasers.

6. Brain Bashers – With 5 new puzzles added every week, you’ll never run out of printable brain teasers.

7. The Teachers Corner – With this site you can make your own brain teasers and print them out.

I hate to say it, but, if you don’t use it, you lose it. There is so much research on the brain, how it works and how you can improve your brain power. Use these resources to prevent memory loss and improve your brain health. It’s easy to get caught up with everyday life and forget that we need to stimulate our brain in order to keep in healthy.

Do you know of any great sites that provide printable brain teasers? List them in the comments below.

How to Motivate Yourself to Write a Novel in 30 Days

admin — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 21:50:14 +0000

Imagine having the life of a best-selling novelist. You get to do big interviews, go to book signings, maybe even be approached by big movie studios for an adaptation. You’ll have that feeling of accomplishment and the satisfaction you’ve always wanted… except there’s just one problem.

You’ve never written a novel.

So how do you get started? Maybe with an idea you’ve had, but what from there? Do you outline the story, research now or later, think about writing everyday but instead of actually doing it you convince yourself you’re not prepared?

None of the above. I have but four words that will help you write your novel in 30 days.

National Novel Writing Month.

What, you ask, the hell is that?

Well, it’s this amazing idea created by an author named Chris Baty. In 1999, Baty decided to challenge himself and 21 other participants to write 50,000 words in 30 days. In 2000 a website was launched and from then on it has been gaining in popularity. Here’s a small synopsis from Wikipedia:

National Novel Writing Month (also known as NaNoWriMo) is a creative writing project in which participants attempt to write a 50,000 word novel in one month. The official event is held every November. Despite the name, the project is now international in scope. 101,767 writers participated in 2007, yielding 15,335 reported winners. Participants wrote 1,187,931,929 words in 2007, according to the project’s website.

This is writing in its simplest form. Basically, you have a network of people that are trying to get their first draft out of their minds and onto paper (or into a word processor). The only tools you need is determination and a something to write with.

Are you ready to take the challenge?

Visit NaNoWriMo today and get started!

15 Places to Get Paid for Writing Online

admin — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 22:37:48 +0000

One of the most essential skills when it comes to success is the skill of writing. Notice I said “skill” and not talent. While I believe talent has to be present, it doesn’t have to be the only thing that allows you to write. You can become a good writer and you can definitely become a better writer.

Now that we have the Internet, it’s becoming easier and easier to reach others with your writing. You should always be practicing, writing as much as possible, maybe even everyday. You may even get paid for your writing someday.

Why not start today? There are lots of places you can go to get paid for writing. Here are some of the well known places you can go online to get paid for writing.

1. PayPerPost – How would you like to get paid for each blog post you write? PayPerPost claims you can earn up to $500 per month with their service.

2. Blogvertise – Basically the same concept as PayPerPost. You’re using your blog to write about services or products and getting paid for it.

3. Blogitive – You’ll get paid weekly to post to your blog via PayPal.

4. Smorty – Another way to make money posting to your blog.

5. Sponsored Reviews.com – Write reviews for advertisers on your blog and get paid.

6. LoudLaunch – Get paid monthly to write about services and products on your blog

7. Blog to Profit – Get connected to advertisers that want to sponsor your blog

8. 451Press – Receive 40% of revenue writing for a blog in their network

9. Review Me – Get paid $20 to $200 to post a review on your site.

10. Associated Content – Get paid to write about whatever it is you want. Upfront payments based on performance

11. Squidoo – In Squidoo, you set up a page called a “lens”. You add different modules which include anything from lists to video. You can earn revenue from many different sources on Squidoo.

12. DayTipper – Are you good at writing tips? You can make $3 for every tip you write that gets published

13. Helium – Helium is one of the biggest writing networks on the web. You’ll earn a percentage on revenue when you write for them. They now have a marketplace where you can get paid from $20 to $200

14. Elance – They’ve been around for a long time and are still going strong. Visit their Writing & Translation section for writing jobs.

15. Get a Freelancer – Similar to Elance, you’ll find tons of writing jobs on this site

If you love writing, and you’d love to get paid to write, than you’ll find more than enough opportunities with this list. Remember to practice and write often so you can optimize your skill and get paid well for your service.

If you know of any other places you can get paid to write, please post them below in the comments.

Top 7 Mind Mapping Blogs

admin — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 20:35:49 +0000

Mind mapping is a creative way to take notes and learn new information. I’m fairly new to it and I’m trying to apply it to the books I’m reading and even blogs and sites I’m reading online. I really like the way you’re basically doodling and learning at the same time. For a thorough definition of mind mapping, visit this wikipedia article: mind mapping.

I wanted to put together a nice list of blogs to read to help in my mind mapping endeavor. There are a lot of resources out there on mind mapping, but I think it’s a good idea to have a limited number so as not to get too overwhelmed by all the information.

So, here are the top 7 blogs related to mind mapping and my favorite article on each one:

The Mind Mapping Software Blog (Favorite Article: 10 reasons why mind mapping software should be the foundation of your personal productivity system)
Mind Mapping Blog (Favorite Article: Mastering mind mapping can help at work)
Idea Mapping (Favorite Article: Developing an Idea )
Applications of MindManager (Favorite Article: A map of travel web sites, timetables and maps created with MindManager)
The Mindjet Blog (Favorite Article: How to Use MindManager to Write a Novel)
The Mindmap Blog (Favorite Article:US Constitution Mindmap: Creating a “More Perfect Union”)
Litemind (Favorite Article: How to Recall an Entire Book in 5 Minutes or Less )

Also, a really great, comprehensive list of mind mapping resources can be found here: 99 Mind Mapping Resources, Tools, and Tips. Like I said, don’t get too overwhelmed by all this information. Stick with a limited amount of resources and focus on one thing at a time. I suggest subcribing to each of the 7 blogs listed and keeping up with their posts and even mind mapping some of their posts or maybe how each blog relates to each other.

I know there are a lot of mind mapping resources and blogs on the web. If you know of any that you really enjoy, please list them in the comments.

How to Wake Up a Different Person – 5 Things I’ve Learned About Myself

admin — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 17:54:55 +0000

Every night before I went to sleep, I used to write down this phrase:

“I want to wake up a different person.”

And I meant it. Sometimes I meant it literally, as in I wanted to wake up as George Clooney or Bill Gates. Other times I meant it imaginatively, as in I wanted to wake up as Howard Roark from Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead or… Batman. Regardless of who I wanted to wake up as, it was clear who I did not want to be when I woke up: myself.

Honestly, my intention, when I wrote this down, was to try to become a “better” person. At the time (about 4 years ago) I was trying to excel in my particular philosophy (which I’ve now come to see as just another philosophy in itself), but also, I wanted to be a better person in the general sense of the meaning. If I could go back, I would’ve told myself, “Hey, you need to be more productive, you need to write more, you need to read more, you need to make goals and try to meet them…” and on and on.

But that, I’m afraid, is impossible and I kept on writing down that phrase and I realized something. I did wake up a different person almost everyday. It was gradual, but I’ve turned into someone different and I realize it wasn’t what I intended the first time I wrote that phrase down. Recently, I’ve met someone who has revealed some very troubling things that I’ve ignored about myself. These characteristics are basically what I have “become” in the past 4 to 5 years and while they aren’t very good, it’s good that I now know them and realize they aren’t good and can work to become better. I can become a different person, or maybe the person I’m supposed to be.

1. I Don’t Learn From My Mistakes

I hated admitting this one. I don’t believe I haven’t learned anything, but I realized that all the mistakes I’ve made haven’t really had any consequences. If you don’t suffer the consequences of a mistake, you don’t learn how to avoid it or what to do next time you make a the same mistake. I believe this has left me stagnant.

2. I am Bitter About My Past Beliefs

I was raised in a very conservative home based on the Christian philosophy. We were a Baptist family that believed drinking, cussing and sex before marriage was wrong. Now that I’ve changed, I feel as though I do have a good knowledge of Christianity and why I believe it’s no longer true, but I also have a bitterness towards it that makes me realize I have an agenda against it. I want to replace that bitter agenda with a passion to find the truth.

3. I Lack the Ability to Be Vulnerable

It’s difficult for me to be serious. When it comes to really telling someone how I feel, I usually make a joke or avoid the conversation all together. I’m just too afraid to be too open because I may just get hurt or look stupid. I want to be able to let people know how I feel so they can know who I really am and maybe I can even know who I really am.

4. I am Unable to Admit My Faults

Whatever. I’m doing it right now. Well, I used to think I was good at this, but I realize that there are many things I’ve refused to admit I was doing wrong. I want to be able to admit my faults so I can progress and become the person I need to be.

5. I Complain Too Much

Which causes me to avoid action. I complain about my job instead of working on my blogs or web sites. I layout the horrible circumstances of my life instead of taking action and making them better. I want to shift my focus on the bad to a willingness to take action and make my life better.

Now that I know these fundamental changes that have happened in my life, and the fact that they didn’t change me the way I wanted, I can now work on how to actually become a different person… the person I want to be. I hope this has helped you and I hope you can be honest with yourself about what you’re doing wrong and how you can change.

If you’d like, please comment and let me know the problems you’re having and maybe we can all help each other…

5 Self Improvement Tips From Dexter Morgan

admin — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 18:08:54 +0000

If you haven’t heard of the show Dexter that comes on Showtime every Sunday night at 9pm EST, now you have, and you have no excuse for not watching it (well, unless you don’t have showtime). Dexter is a show about a forensics specialist for the Miami PD who has a little problem: he likes to kill people. Dexter is a serial killer with one exception… he only kills killers.

The show is much more complex than that general idea, but that was enough for me to start watching, and I’m glad I did. So what does Dexter have to do with self improvement? Well, Dexter happens to have some really good habits. While I don’t recommend taking justice into your own hands, if we could apply Dexter’s habits to our everyday lives, I think they’d improve.

1. Be Neat and Organized

Dexter is very meticulous and organized when it comes to killing his victims. He has a time tested routine that is very efficient and that he has perfected. This came from being consistent and trying different things until he got it right.

2. Be Good With People (Even Under Extreme Stress)

Dexter’s entire identity as a serial killer depends on his ability to form relationships with people that present him as a normal person. Now, I don’t believe you should try to be something you’re not, but you should cultivate relationships that will improve your life. Dexter is amazing at this. Even when he’s on the verge of getting caught, he has this amazing ability to relate to and communicate with people effectively.

3. Be Motivated. Extremely Motivated

Motivation is one of the most talked about topics in personal development and we could all learn about motivation from Dexter. While his passion isn’t exactly something you should acquire, if Dexter’s motivation to kill was instilled in our motivations (for heath, career, relationships etc.) we would definitely excel.

4. Be an Expert at What You Do

Dexter knows so much about what he does. He is a blood splatter expert with an emphasis on expert. A lot of scenes are dedicated to him explaining a crime scene he wasn’t present at and it’s amazing how accurate they are. He’s passionate about his work and he loves it. Isn’t that what we all want?

5. Be Able to Adapt Well

This goes a long well with Dexter’s ability to be good with people under stress. Because of his other abilities, he’s able to adapt well to almost any situation. He knows what he wants, and he knows what to do when he doesn’t get it the way he planned. We could all use some of Dexter’s adaptation skills.

You might not think it’s a good idea to learn personal development from a serial killer, but you can apply these attributes to your life. I don’t recommend killing anyone, but replace Dexter’s killers with your goals in life.

Check out the Dexter promo, and if you’re already a fan, you’ll be happy to know that the show has been approved for 2 more seasons.

Are there any characters in shows, movies or books that inspire you to improve yourself? List them in the comments and let me know.

The 7 Best Self Improvement Articles on the Internet

admin — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 20:39:10 +0000

First off, I’d like to welcome you to Memory Strategy. This is my journey to become a better, more productive person, and while the name suggests that it’s centered around improving your memory (which is one aspect that will definitely be covered) this blog is dedicated to self improvement. Of course, that may seem like a relative term. As Tyler Durdon, in the legendary film Fight Club, states: “Self improvement is masturbation.”

While I love the movie and the book, and find it hard to disagree, I realize there are things I need to adjust in my life to make things better. Better for what, you ask? Well, that may well be a subject we delve in to on this journey to improve ourselves.

Rather than act like I know what I’m talking about, I thought I’d introduce to you some of the articles I’ve read that have really influenced me in embarking upon this task.

1. The Courage to Live Consciously (Steve Pavlina)

This is a long one, I’ll admit, but I printed it out and read through it and it was amazing. Pavlina had some motivation and he accomplished a lot with it. This will inspire you to at least want to improve your life, because he’ll make you feel like you’ve been the least productive person on the planet.

2. 14 Ways To Procrastinate Productively (Pick the Brain)

Pick the Brain is one of my favorite blogs and resources for self improvement. This article is great because procrastination is something everyone can relate to and it gives you ideas on how to use your procrastination productively. Pretty clever.

3. 8 Destructive Thinking Patterns and How to Change Them (Change Your Thoughts to Change Your Life)

This one really hit me hard, because I’m quite the pessimist. I feel like nothing ever works out so I pile on the self-pity and let all these horrible thoughts come crashing down on me. This article gave me some perspective and helped me start to think more positively.

4. 20 Ways to Elimnate Stress From Your Life (Zen Habits)

I’m so stressed right now. I really am. I hate my job, I’m financially unstable. I needed this article. It’s practical and provided techniques that I could actually put to use to reduce my stress.

5. The Now Habit (Litemind)

I’m trying to grasp the method of mind mapping and how it can actually help me retain information and learn more. This is a flash based mind map of the book The Now Habit and, whether you fully understand it now, it’s pretty damn cool to play around with…

6. The Power of Yes: A Simple Way to Get More Out of Life (Get Rich Slowly)

I’m afraid. I really am. Sometimes I seem really outgoing and retarded funny, but I’m pretty scared of a lot of things. This article helped me recognize that and the more I read it over and over the more it helps me work on facing those fears and working through them.

7. 10 Skills You Need to Succeed at Most Anything (Stepcase Lifehack)

I have some of them, but not all of them. A good thing to do is write these skills down, check the ones you have, and work on the ones you suck at. These are basically the fundamental skills you need to succeed in today’s society. You know what they are, and knowing is half the battle…

Don’t go out and read all of these at once. Pick the one that relates most to your situation and read it, study, take notes on it. You’ll just get overwhelmed and give up. You need to focus on one thing at a time in this business of productivity. That’s at least one thing I’ve learned, and I think it’s a pretty damn good lesson to start with.

If you know of any articles that have helped you be more productive, live life better or just made you a happier person, please comment below and let me know. Also, go ahead and bookmark this post if you’d like. You’ll need to in order to come back to it to finish reading all the articles. Thanks for visiting and I look forward to improving myself and hopefully helping others do the same.